Dead Zone
by Kate3
Summary: John and Aeryn travel down to a disease-ridden planet and find a few survivors who have a secret.


Title: DEAD ZONE   
  
Author: Kate   
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Setting: Some time after The Maltese Crichton.  
  
Spoilers: Jeremiah Crichton, The Flax, A Human Reaction, Out Of Their Minds and the Look At The Princess arc. And probably a lot more that I'm not remembering.  
  
Archiving: Yes, but please tell one of us where it is.  
  
Feedback: Yes, please! Send comments to: AirnSun18@AOL.com  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters or objects pertaining to Farscape, the Jim Henson co., Nine Networks and the Sci-Fi Channel belong to us, we're just borrowing them :)  
  
Note: Thanks go out to Amara for all of her help, and to Riley for some of the names, more help and his crazy sense of humor. Solid, man. Visit my website @ http://coolfarscape.homestead.com/coolfarscape.html  
  
**************  
Part 1:  
  
Aeryn Sun let out an angry and frustrated sigh as she slammed down a bucket full of soapy water. John closed his eyes as it all landed in his face. He spit it out and opened his mouth to say something but Aeryn cut him of.  
"This is all your fault Crichton!" Aeryn yelled.  
"It's my fault?! How is this my fault, Aeryn? Please, do tell," he said sarcastically.   
"If you hadn't have wandered off on that frelling commerce planet."  
"And if you hadn't have gone all psycho superior being on me we wouldn't be sitting here cleaning the freakin' showers! And besides, I didn't 'wander off'; you guys ditched me, again. You know, maybe you would get a clue, maybe you would let me know where you're going instead of walking away when I'm not looking!" He interrupted her angrily. He picked up his sponge and began to scrub roughly, Aeryn glaring at him the whole time.   
The tension between John and Aeryn had been worsening over the past weekens. In fact, it had gotten so bad that the rest of Moya's crew managed to disappear when they were even in the same room together. Just a few arns ago, they had been arguing during dinner when D'Argo and Zhaan had stood up and silenced them with a loud "shut up" in unison. Rygel and Chiana had been the ones to insist they clean the showers by hand. Pilot had also readily agreed to deter Moya's cleaning fluid to another area so that John and Aeryn had plenty of work to do.   
John continued to scrub the floor angrily, ignoring the water that had soaked through his pants to his knees. He backed up to get a particularly nasty corner when his elbow accidentally connected with the bucket and sent the water all over Aeryn. He cursed to himself and rose to his feet, holding his hands out in front of him. He watched as Aeryn rose also, her eyes dark with anger.  
"Whoa. Aeryn, I am so sorry. If I didn't mean to it was an accident! Seriously, I'm really sorry, uh, you can leave if you want to, I'll finish this, it's not a problem." John's babbling was cut off as Aeryn started toward him. She flung her sponge on the ground as John ran and she took off after him. It wasn't long before Aeryn had tackled him and flipped him over so that she was straddling his chest. John tightened his muscles and closed his eyes, waiting for Aeryn to make her move. But, nothing happened. He slowly opened his eyes to find Aeryn staring at him, her mouth opened slightly. Once she caught his eye, she quickly got off him and backed away.  
"I'm sorry, John," she said and then quickly hurried away. John scrambled up to his feet and started after her.  
"Aeryn! Hey! Aeryn, what's wrong?" John pushed his way past a confused looking Chiana.  
"Watch where you're going! Hey, what's going on?" She watched as John ignored her and kept running. John saw a Chiana's eyes light up with a mischievous gleam. "Oh, I see," she said slyly. "Crichton, you could really use some help here." She sidled closer to him. "I can help you, you know?"  
"Back off Chiana, I don't have time for this," John said, rolling his eyes. Chiana laughed as he started after Aeryn again.  
"Crichton, you idiot! Aeryn went the other way. She said she was working on her Prowler or something," Chiana told him. She watched as he spun around and jogged the other way.  
"Thanks Chi!" He yelled. By the time John reached the hangar he was breathing heavily. He stopped short when he saw Aeryn in her flight suit about to hop in her Prowler.  
"Whoa! Aeryn, wh¾ what are you doing? Where are you going?" He asked frantically. John watched as she stiffened and paused at the sound of his voice. She didn't answer him, but continued getting into her Prowler, avoiding his confused and worried gaze. John hurried over and jumped onto the small ladder that lead up to the cockpit and grabbed Aeryn's arm.  
"Let go of me Crichton!" She said hoarsely. John noticed that her eyes were red from crying.  
"Aeryn, what are you doing? What's the matter?" He asked gently. She quickly averted her eyes away from him.   
"I'm leaving," she said bluntly.  
"What? Aeryn, you can't just leave."  
"Really? Oh, let me guess. Only you're allowed to do that, right?" Aeryn immediately regretted what she said and grimaced. What is the matter with me? Aeryn closed the canopy and started the Prowler. She watched guiltily as John backed away.  
"Pilot, open the hangar doors," Aeryn asked.  
"Yes, Officer Sun. May I ask what you are doing?" He said. Aeryn could detect a hint of worry in his voice.  
"No Pilot. Just open the doors."  
  
******************  
  
John watched as Aeryn left the hangar feeling disgusted with himself. Somehow he felt that all this was his fault. He found himself heading towards Farscape I.  
"Pilot, I need you to tell me where Aeryn's going," he said, putting on his flight suit.  
"Officer Sun appears to be heading towards the closest planet in Moya's range unfortunately."  
"What do you mean by 'unfortunately'?" John asked, his voice full of dread.  
"I believe it is Chanterak. A little less than a cycle ago, all it's inhabitants were diminished by a plague of some sort. I have already tried to contact Officer Sun, but she has turned off communications."  
"Great," he said bitterly. "Pilot, let the others know where I'm going," John was cut off by D'Argo's angry voice.   
"Crichton, what the frell is going on?"  
"Aeryn's pissed at me. She took off and is heading towards Chanterak,"  
"John, you have to get down there quickly," Zhaan told him. "There might still be bacteria from the plague living on Chanterak."  
"Right. Thanks Zhaan," John said as he climbed into Farscape I. He was startled as D'Argo approached him.  
"I'm going with you."  
"No, you are not. I can handle this. I need to, D'Argo. Besides, everyone's dead, so how dangerous can it be? I mean, except for Aeryn wanting to kill me."  
"That's what I was thinking," D'Argo told him, trying to stifle a grin.  
"I'll be fine," John told him. Famous last words, he thought to himself. D'Argo held up two masks in his hand and placed them in the cockpit beside John.  
"Thanks," John told him. "Okay Pilot, I'm ready to go."  
  
**************  
  
As John entered Chanterak's atmosphere and neared the surface of the planet he followed Aeryn's flight path and soon spotted her Prowler. He landed Farscape I next to it without any problems. John opened the canopy and stepped out, a sense of eeriness coming over him. He could sense and smell the death on Chanterak, which sent shivers up his spine. From where he was standing, all he could see was emptiness. Judging by the small, almost primitive-looking buildings, John guessed that Chanterak was sparsely populated. He reached in the cockpit and pulled out the two masks and put one on. There's no chance I am going to catch some plague and die here, he thought. He started off on a small path, the gravel crunching under his black combat boots. When he came to a fork in the path he stopped and put a finger to his lips. Okay John, you've got two choices here: One, you've got a small village full of dead bodies, or two, you've got creepy woods probably full of more dead bodies. John struggled a bit with the decision. If I were Aeryn and I were really pissed off at me, where would I go? John smiled at that thought. He clearly remembered when he was Aeryn. It was awesome. Very awesome. He quickly snapped out of thoughts and regained focus. John decided that the best place to go was in the woods. He figured she'd want some seclusion.   
"Aeryn!" He called, pulling his mask off. He was about to call again, when he decided that she probably wasn't going to answer him anyway. He began down the path in the woods, his eyes scanning the entire area. After walking a few minutes John came across a small clearing with a large cliff overlooking a blue-green ocean. It was one of the most beautiful oceans John had ever seen. As he stepped out from the trees, John noticed Aeryn sitting near the edge of the cliff, her back towards him. She sat just staring at the ocean, her knees drawn up to her chest and her chin resting upon them. As John walked up beside her and sat down she didn't turn her head.  
"Hey," he said, hoping he would get a response.  
"I'm sorry," she said, still not looking at him.   
"It's okay. I am too, uh, sorry, that is." Aeryn looked at him sharply when she heard his muffled voice. "Oh! Here, you should probably put this on," he told her.  
"Why? What's going on Crichton?"  
"This is Chanterak. Less than a cycle ago, its population was wiped out by some sort of plague. Zhaan told me to bring masks in case the bacteria was air born and still lingering." Aeryn nodded and took a mask from him. She slipped it on and knew that if there were an air born form of deadly bacteria, the masks probably wouldn't offer them the best protection. However, it was all they had.  
"We should probably leave then, right?"  
"Don't you want to talk? I think we need to."  
"John...I...I can't." She said hesitantly. Aeryn ducked her head, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to fall. John could see her distress and left it at that, not wanting to push her. Instead, he put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. Aeryn regained her composure, but allowed herself to relax in his arms.   
They sat in silence for a while until John spoke up.  
"Let's go home, Aeryn." She nodded and stood up next to him. They began down the path through the woods the way John had come. As they walked back towards their ships, John turned to her.  
"So, what do you think's wrong with us?" He asked her, a slight smile playing on his lips. Aeryn returned his smile.  
"I don't know. Too much time on Moya with too many people, I guess," she said, shrugging. She didn't really think that was the only reason, but she didn't want to go there.  
"And we just took it out on each other," John said. "I think next time we should take it out on someone who needs it. Like Rygel," he said chuckling.  
"Oh, I don't know. I've kind of gotten used to beating the dren out of you," Aeryn said, laughing. John was about to respond when he heard the snapping of a stick in the woods. Moments later a darkly clad figure dashed past John and Aeryn.   
"Hey!" John yelled, immediately starting after the figure. Aeryn followed behind him, her pulse rifle drawn. They continued after the figure until they came upon a large, moss-covered bulkhead next to a crumbling building made of stone. He began to bang on the bulkhead frantically.  
"The PeaceKeepers are here! Let me in now!" The doors opened quickly and he jumped in. John dove forward and stopped the bulkhead doors before they slammed shut.  
"Hey, wait! We're not PeaceKeepers. We're not here to hurt you," John said, hoping that he sounded convincing.  
"You're not here to hurt us? Your people destroyed our population! How are we supposed to trust you?" John looked down at the slightly humanoid being's small, beady yellow eyes. His skin was a deep, leathery looking tan color.   
"The PeaceKeepers were the ones who did this?" John said, looking at Aeryn.  
"A few cycles ago, work was being done to create a disease that could destroy entire worlds. This would enable PeaceKeepers to eliminate threats without losing soldiers. All PeaceKeeper soldiers were inoculated, including myself. My guess is that Chanterak was the first to be tested."   
John suddenly turned his attention to the bulkhead when a small female stepped out of the shadows in the room below. She had the same dark skin color as the male and the small, cat-like yellow eyes. John could see that she was shaking.  
"Please, we need your help."  
"Stay back Sera!" The male ordered, his voice muffled by his large, black mask.  
"Ra'taal, they say they not PeaceKeepers and I believe them. We need food or we going to die. We've already lost Janandra," she said pleadingly. She looked down nervously and ran a hand through her short, unkempt blondish hair. Ra'taal avoided her stare, looking ashamed.  
"You are right," he said sighing. He looked at John and Aeryn. "Please, we need some provisions. We lost a young girl due to starvation recently. Although, I admit, we would all rather die from starvation than at the hands of the PeaceKeepers."   
  
To be continued...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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